Learning Outside the Lines: Pumpkin Week

One of my favorite things about this new chapter of learning outside the classroom is the freedom to follow curiosity wherever it leads. We don’t have to stay tethered to a lesson plan or a pacing guide. Instead, we get to weave learning into life — and sometimes, that looks like an entire week dedicated to pumpkins.

We recently had what we called Pumpkin Week — and it was every bit as fun (and educational!) as it sounds.

We set aside our usual textbooks and routines, and for a few glorious fall days, pumpkins became our teachers. We explored the pumpkin life cycle from seed to sprout to harvest, marveling at the way God designed such beauty and order into even the simplest things. We estimated, counted, and compared — scooping out seeds, making messy predictions, and practicing math with our hands, not just our pencils.

At one point, we even turned math into a game of pumpkin target practice — the boys drew numbers on their pumpkins and took aim with their bows and arrows. Every shot became a math problem, using the numbers they hit as addends or multipliers. There was laughter, friendly competition, and a few pumpkin casualties (all in the name of learning, of course).

Science, math, art, reading — it was all there. But more than that, there was joy. There was connection. There was the beautiful reminder that learning doesn’t have to fit inside a workbook to be meaningful.

We ended the week with a trip to the pumpkin patch — muddy boots, hot cider, and all. As I watched my boys race between rows of orange and gold, I felt that familiar whisper: This is what I called you to.

It’s not always neat or predictable — sometimes it’s sticky, loud, and full of pumpkin guts — but it’s real. And it’s good.

Every day out here reminds me that learning is a lifestyle, not a checklist. When we slow down enough to see the world as our classroom, even a simple pumpkin becomes a masterpiece of God’s creativity — and an invitation to wonder.

Here’s to more weeks like this — where curiosity leads, joy takes root, and we remember that the best education isn’t always found behind a desk.

With grace & grit,
Kehla